Gloria Vanags
Gloria Vanags is the wife of Baltic Tier-One operator Cpt. Hendriks Vanags. She is notable for being an unassimilated Westerner - a descendant of American and Western European military personnel stationed in the Baltics at the outset of the Great War. Overview Gloria was born in 2099 in a family of a civil engineer and a nurse. Undergoing the same harsh militarized education as every Balt from a young age, she displayed no real military talents beyond meeting the expected basic requirements, and was consequently assigned to Tier Four like the majority of civilians, a role she and her family were completely content with. The reason why military training was imposed on the general populace became evident during the Second Liberation War, during which Gloria's mother was killed by Mecharussian invaders, and Gloria herself saw combat action despite her young age at the time. She first met Hendriks Vanags during a medieval martial arts tournament. The two started dating shortly afterwards and married in 2122. Two years later, their son Mareks was born. Gloria's ancestors hail from the United States, more specifically, West Virginia. Despite having native Balts in her family tree for the past three generations, Gloria and her parents still identify as Westerners and retain elements of their original Southern United States cultural identity, such as the use of English language within their family. Gloria's Westerner status hasn't been much of an impediment in Baltic Society, however - with Westerners being deemed a "native" minority by the Baltic government and with society focusing towards a form of civic nationalism, she has always enjoyed the same rights and protections as long-standing native citizens. Personality Gloria is kind and considerate by nature, a loving mother and a devoted wife. She is, however, also quite independent and can be quite stubborn and forceful when she wants to get her way - not that her husband Hendrik would ever seriously deny anything to his beloved wife. Gloria's single most prized possession is her family, and while she might detest violence (as much as someone raised in a heavily-militarized society reasonably can), she will fight to protect it with the tenacity of a wounded tigress if necessary. This also means she can be a somewhat overprotective (by Baltic standards, at least) mother, much to the chagrin of her husband and especially her son Marek. Perhaps this unusually strong attachment stems from her own childhood traumatized by the loss of her mother (and presumably other family members) during the Second Liberation War. Gloria has little interest in politics, having neither the means, nor the interest or time to partake in them. Her political views are consequently limited to simple but strong patriotism. Gloria is a devout Christian, in a stark contrast to her irreligious husband. Despite her own beliefs, Gloria does not actively strive to instill her son with the Christian faith, instead raising him (partly at the insistence of Hendrik) to choose his beliefs on his own when he is old enough. Trivia Gloria Vanags should actually be rendered as "Glorija Vanaga" in proper Latvian, respecting the pronunciation and proper gender suffix. The author chose to Anglicize the name to make it less confusing for Anglophone readers.